90'+3 Substitution

Per Mertesacker’s goal late in the first half earned Arsenal a narrow 1-0 victory over 10-man Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday afternoon.

The game’s main talking point came on 12 minutes, though, when Steve Sidwell was shown a straight red card for the second consecutive match. The midfielder went in for a 50/50 challenge with Mikel Arteta, but caught the Arsenal man just above the ankle.

Thero Walcott had already seen a goal disallowed prior to the dismissal, but the Whites actually had some good chances of their own before Mertesacker’s opener.

Fulham pressed for an equaliser in the second period but it proved too great an ask, with Stanislav Manolev coming closest when he found the net, only to see it ruled out by the offside flag, before Olivier Giroud was sent off for the Gunners.

There were four changes from the Fulham line-up that started the midweek defeat by Chelsea. Sascha Riether didn’t recover in time so Manolev came in at right-back, while on the other side Kieran Richardson was preferred to John Arne Riise. Sidwell returned from suspension to take Giorgos Karagounis’ place in the centre of midfield, and Alexander Kačaniklić was immediately restored to the starting XI after being recalled from his loan at Burnley, at the expense of Mladen Petrić who took his place amongst the substitutes.

After nabbing the ball off Arsenal early on, the first opportunity of the match fell the home side’s way following great play by Manolev in the second minute. The full-back beat two men down the flank before playing in Urby Emanuelson but, unfortunately, the Dutchman’s cut back was too close to the covering defenders.

The Gunners did have the ball in the net a minute later with a clinical near post finish from Walcott but the England man was a good yard offside when the ball was played to him and the goal was correctly ruled out.

A horrible sense of déjà vu engulfed the Cottage on 12 minutes when Sidwell was given a straight red card for a late challenge on Mikel Arteta. The ball was there to be won and although he only had one foot off the ground, Sidwell did catch the Spaniard on his ankle.

Despite the man disadvantage, it was Fulham who brought the first real save of the game out of either goalkeeper on 21 minutes. The Arsenal defence backed off the marauding Emanuelson who picked his moment to play in Dimitar Berbatov, but the Bulgarian’s powerful effort was beaten away by Wojciech Szczesny for a Fulham corner.

Kačaniklić then won another corner as his long range effort was deflected behind, before Richardson saw his speculative shot fly harmlessly wide of Szczesny’s goal.

Arsenal were hardly playing gung-ho football but they came within a whisker of opening the scoring on 35 minutes when Giroud – scorer of a brace in the reverse fixture – clipped the outside of the far post with a low, placed effort from 20 yards.

Persistent play from Emanuelson on the corner of the Arsenal penalty area saw him win the ball back after initially being dispossessed by Nacho Monreal, before drawing a decent save from the scrambling Szczesny who pushed the ball round the post.

But it was the visitors who took the lead two minutes before half-time. A free-kick was hoisted into the penalty box and Laurent Koscielny nodded the ball across the six yard box for Mertesacker to head into an empty net beyond the exposed Mark Schwarzer.

A mazy run by Emanuelson at the start of the second period saw Fulham presented with a decent opportunity 20 yards from goal after he was felled by Arteta. Bryan Ruiz stepped up to try and bend one but he couldn’t get enough dip on his free-kick and it sailed over the bar.

The second period was failing to match the intensity of the first, with Schwarzer beating Walcott to the ball on 68 minutes the first decent sniff either side had of goal.

A minute later, though, a neat one-two between Manolev and Emanuelson ended with the former over-hitting his cross so that it required a tip over the bar from Szczesny.

Arsenal then showed their strength in depth by introducing Jack Wilshere and Lukas Podolski. The international duo took the places of Walcott and Tomas Rosicky, respectively.

Aaron Ramsey then made his way into referee Andre Marriner’s notebook for a foul on Ruiz just outside the area. Richardson’s subsequent set-piece was saved by Szczesny and turned in by Manolev, but the offside flag was up.

Another free-kick was awarded our way on 78 minutes but Berbatov’s attempt went straight into the wall.

Fulham were in the ascendancy but Arsenal should have put the game to bed on 83 minutes. A patient move eventually saw the ball worked out to Santi Cazorla but the Spaniard hesitated, giving Brede Hangeland time to make up the ground and throw himself in front of the shot.

Martin Jol then made his first change of the game with Petrić coming on in place of Kačaniklić, before Kerim Frei then replaced Emanuelson.

As the 90-minute mark approached, the numbers were evened up when Giroud saw red for an ankle high challenge on Manolev.

Fulham refused to admit defeat and began bombarding the Arsenal box, with Gunners’ manager Arsene Wenger responding with the introduction of Thomas Vermaelen for Cazorla.

Ramsey saw another chance to double his side’s lead come and go but it mattered little as Arsenal held on to just about take the points.